Last month OTFT developer Smartkem announced that it has partnered with AUO to jointly develop rollable transparent microLED displays, based on Smartkem's OTFT backplane technology. The project will be based on a novel OTFT production process developed at ITRI.
Smartkem announced today that it was granted $1.1 million from the Innovate UK fund to support this project. This funding is part of the 2024 UK-Taiwan Collaborative R&D Initiative. The funding will be paid over the period of the two-year project, starting in early 2025.
Smartkem believes its technology will not only enable high-end rollable transparent microLED displays, but it will also enable drastic cost reduction that will bring costs down to mass market prices. Smartkem's low-temperature processing enables the use of low-cost and flexible plastic substrates rather than glass, which the company says will be a decisive factor in bringing production costs down.
A few months ago Smartkem demonstrated its first microLED display, which was produced with its own proprietary OTFT materials - a sapphire wafer with arrays of 96x96 microLEDs with dimensions of 18um x 25um (produced by Enkris). In August 2023 we posted a spotlight article on Smartkem, a MicroLED Industry Association member.
AUO meanwhile is "making significant progress" in MicroLED technology, transitioning to a 4.5-Gen production line. A few months ago, AUO said that microLED is a priority for the company, and it plans to allocate more resources into its microLED projects. The company believes it is the leader in microLED development.
A Lenovo transparent microLED laptop prototype
Towards the end of 2023, AUO announced its plans to invest further in its microLED technologies, and re-iterated its plans to mass produce microLED smartwatch displays by the end of 2023 - and also to introduce automotive and TV displays. You can read more about AUO's microLED wearable display project here. In November 2023, AUO announced an agreement with PlayNitride, to build a $21.5 million 6-inch epiwafer microLED production line at AUO's Longtan factory. In May 2024, AUO demonstrated its latest microLED display prototypes at SID Displayweek 2024.
